What the Pantene Ad Can Teach Us About Blogging
I recall reading that an ad is on average seen up to twenty times before the buyer responds to or recalls the information. Up to twenty times before a person takes action and buys.
Your blog is an ad. On average the number of times your blog is seen, read or spoken about before the reader takes action and ‘buys’ is in many cases much higher than twenty times. For a beginner the number is almost incalculable. It is important to remember, therefore, that building a well read blog with high traffic and a healthy subscriber list takes time.
As the Pentene ad says: “It won’t happen over night, but it will happen.”
Catchy phrase, isn’t it? And a very successful one with a clear message: Persist, have patience and the results will come. But they won’t happen by themselves. We have to make them happen. Here are a few ways we can do that:
Write ‘best selling’ headlines:
Never underestimate the importance of headlines. According to many of the best copy writers you should spend half the time on writing the headline as you do on writing your posts. Writing headlines that sell takes time and practice. Brian Clark agrees that:
8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret to the power of the headline, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece. The better the headline, the better your odds of beating the averages and getting what you’ve written read by a larger percentage of people (Writing Headlines That Get Results).
Improve your writing.
We all know content is king. But it’s pointless having great content if your writing has incorrect spelling, grammar and punctuation. Many first time readers will bounce off your site faster than a rubber ball off a brick wall if it is littered with spelling and grammatical errors. You also run the risk of having your regular readers unsubscribe and stop visiting your blog as well. Many writing and grammar resources are available online and offline so there is no reason why you can’t make improvements. Here are some sites I use and recommend:
Build a community then build a community within a community.
The best ways to build a community is to listen to and appreciate your readers. Listen to what they have to say and let them know you value the time and effort they have taken to read and comment on your posts. Get to know your readers on a personal level. Send them a personlized email, interact with them on social media sites, and find a common interest. As Chris Garrett said in a recent interview “Lavish attention on [your readers], they’ll tell people how awesome you are, and your community grows.”
Blog commenting/Guest posting:
A ‘gazillion’ articles have been written on these two topics but you’ll be amazed how many new bloggers who aren’t doing this, so it’s worth reiterating here: blog commenting and guest posting are two of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your blog, gain credibility and authority, engage with new readers and top up your subscriber list. Get it. Good. Now go and do it.
How are you making things happen?
5 Blogging Limiting Beliefs about Money that You Need to Release
What’s Up Bloggers! Roundup #8 with Don Sturgill
What is Keeping Your Blog from Making Money?
10 Techniques how to Start a Blog Post to Engage Readers to Stay on Page
{ 42 Responses }